.'

'You've been acting all the time I've been here. Do you think I didn't
see it was unreal, when you talked with such cynical indifference? I
know you well enough to tell when you're hiding your real self behind a
mask.'

'If that is so, the inference is obvious that I wish my real self to be
hidden.'

'I would rather you cursed me than treat me with such cold politeness.'

'I'm afraid you're rather difficult to please,' he said.

Lucy went up to him passionately, but he drew back so that she might not
touch him. Her outstretched hands dropped powerless to her side.

'Oh, you're of iron,' she cried pitifully. 'Alec, Alec, I couldn't let
you go without seeing you once more. Even you would be satisfied if you
knew what bitter anguish I've suffered. Even you would pity me. I don't
want you to think too badly of me.'

'Does it much matter what I think? We shall be five thousand miles
apart.'

'You must utterly despise me.'

He shook his head. And now his manner lost that affected calmness which
had been so cruelly wounding. He could not now attempt to hide the pain
that he was suffering. His voice trembled a little with his great
emotion.

'I loved you far too much to do that. Believe me, with all my heart I
wish you well. Now that the first bitterness is past I see that you did
the only possible thing. I hope that you'll be very happy. Robert
Boulger is an excellent fellow, and I'm sure he'll make you a much
better husband than I should ever have done.'

Lucy blushed to the roots of her hair. Her heart sank, and she did not
seek to conceal her agitation.

'Did they tell you I was going to marry Robert Boulger?'

'Isn't it true?'

'Oh, how cruel of them, how frightfully cruel! I became engaged to him,
but he gave me my release. He knew that notwithstanding everything, I
loved you better than my life.'

Alec looked down, but he did not say anything. He did not move.

'Oh, Alec, don't be utterly pitiless,' she wailed. 'Don't leave me
without a single word of kindness.'

'Nothing is changed, Lucy. You sent me away because I caused your
brother's death.'

She stood before him, her hands behind her back, and they looked into
one another's eyes. Her words were steady and quiet. It seemed to give
her an infinite relief to say them.

'I hated you then, and yet I couldn't crush the love that was in my
heart. And it's because I was frightened of myself that I told Bobbie I'd
marry him. But I couldn't. I wa